The Marie Collins Foundation (MCF) welcomes the potential changes to legislation and the setting up of a Global Fund to help tackle online child sexual exploitation.
MCF founder Tink Palmer attended the WePROTECT children online global summit in London on December 11 at which Prime Minister David Cameron pledged that the UK would contribute£50m over five years to the new Global Child Protection Fund and an extra £10m to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Describing the circumstances as “a global problem that has an industrial scale”, Mr Cameron also pledged to amend the law to make it a criminal offence for anyone over 18 to send sexual messages to children under 16.
Fifth three countries, 26 technology companies and ten NGOs including MCF were represented at the summit, which had three main objectives, to agree:
Global action to remove child abuse material from the internet worldwide;
Co-ordinated global action to identify and protect victims;
Strengthened international law enforcement co-operation.
Tink said: “We welcome the UK government's action on tackling this growing and insidious problem. Marie Collins Foundation puts children at the centre of its training and support and, for the sake of the children, the development of the Global Child Protection Fund and more money and new legislation to fight internet child abuse are positive steps in the right direction."
BT and the Marie Collins Foundation (MCF) have pledged to develop an international network that enables practitioners, researchers and policy makers to share best practice when intervening where children have been abused online.
The first Global Conference to address these specific online issues will be held in London in July 2015, hosted by BT and the MCF.
Speaking at the summit Tink, added: “Both UK and international studies demonstrate the need for the development of best practice models to better address the recovery needs of children and their families who have been the victims of online abuse.
“The MCF’s vision is to ensure that all children who suffer abuse via the internet and mobile technology are able to recover and live safe and fulfilling lives.
“The formation of an international network will enable practitioners from across the world to share expertise and to develop models of intervention that accommodate the differential impacts of abuse when it occurs via the internet and new technology. Such a network will also ensure that good practice models are based on sound evidence and research that will in turn inform policy makers within our countries and at an international level.”
MCF’s own survey, carried out by the University Campus Suffolk and Plymouth University and published earlier this year, revealed that 96.5% of the children’s workforce in England stated they needed training in assessing risk online and 95% said they needed training to help children and their families with recovery from online abuse.
As a result of the outcomes from this survey – BT have partnered with the MCF to address the training needs of all frontline workers in the UK working with children who have been harmed online. The launch of this initiative entitled CLICK: Path to Protection, took place last month and will involve a pilot phase before rolling out the programme across the UK.